Kymenlaakso (Finnish: [ˈkymenˌlɑːkso]; Swedish: Kymmenedalen; lit. "Kymi/Kymmene Valley") is a region in Finland. It borders the regions of Uusimaa, Päijät-Häme, South Savo and South Karelia and Russia (Leningrad Oblast). Its name means literally The Valley of River Kymi. Kymijoki is one of the biggest rivers in Finland with a drainage basin with 11% of the area of Finland. The city of Kotka with 51,000 inhabitants is located at the delta of River Kymi and has the most important import harbour in Finland. Other cities are Kouvola further in the inland which has after a municipal merger 81,000 inhabitants and the old bastion town Hamina.
Kymenlaakso was one of the first industrialised regions of Finland. It became the most important region for paper and pulp industry in Finland. Since the late 1900s many plants have closed, which has caused some deindustrialisation, unemployment and population decline in Kymenlaakso, especially in those communities that were built around plants in Kouvola.
Region of Finland This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: "Kymenlaakso" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Finnish.  (June 2023) Click [show] for important translation instructions. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must follow the LLM translation guideline, revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Finnish Wikipedia article at [[:fi:Kymenlaakson maakunta]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|fi|Kymenlaakson maakunta}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation. (Learn how and when to remove this message) Region in FinlandKymenlaakso KymmenedalenRegionRegion of KymenlaaksoKymenlaakson maakunta (Finnish)Landskapet Kymmenedalen (Swedish) Coat of armsKymenlaakso on a map of FinlandCoordinates: 60°30′N 027°00′E / 60.500°N 27.000°E / 60.500; 27.000CountryFinlandHistorical provinceUusimaa, Karelia, TavastiaFormer provinces Fief of Viborg Viborg and Nyslott County Kymmenegård and Nyslott County Vyborg Governorate Viipuri Province Province of Kymi Southern Finland Province CapitalsKotka and KouvolaOther townHaminaArea • Total4,558.54 km2 (1,760.06 sq mi)Population (2019) • Total174,167 • Density38.2068/km2 (98.9550/sq mi)GDP • Total€6.158 billion (2015) • Per capita€34,350 (2015)Time zoneUTC+2 (EET) • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)ISO 3166 codeFI-09NUTS186Regional animalEurasian otter (Lutra lutra)Regional birdEurasian bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)Regional fishEuropean sprat (Sprattus sprattus)Regional flowerYellow Iris (Iris pseudacorus)Regional stoneRapakivi graniteRegional lakeLake VuohijärviWebsitewww.kymenlaakso.fi Kymenlaakso (Finnish: [ˈkymenˌlɑːkso]; Swedish: Kymmenedalen; lit. "Kymi/Kymmene Valley") is a region in Finland. It borders the regions of Uusimaa, Päijät-Häme, South Savo and South Karelia and Russia (Leningrad Oblast). Its name means literally The Valley of River Kymi. Kymijoki is one of the biggest rivers in Finland with a drainage basin with 11% of the area of Finland. The city of Kotka with 51,000 inhabitants is located at the delta of River Kymi and has the most important import harbour in Finland. Other cities are Kouvola further in the inland which has after a municipal merger 81,000 inhabitants and the old bastion town Hamina. Kymenlaakso was one of the first industrialised regions of Finland. It became the most important region for paper and pulp industry in Finland. Since the late 1900s many plants have closed, which has caused some deindustrialisation, unemployment and population decline in Kymenlaakso, especially in those communities that were built around plants in Kouvola.
[edit] The Kymi River in Kouvola For history, geography and culture see: Uusimaa, Karelia and Tavastia
[edit] The region of Kymenlaakso consists of two sub-regions and six municipalities, three of which have city status (marked in bold). Municipalities on the map[edit] KouvolaKotkaHaminaPyhtääVirolahtiMiehikkäläGulf of FinlandSouthSavoSouthKareliaRussiaLeningradOblastUusimaaPäijät-HämeMunicipalitiesOver 30 000 inhabitantsOver 10 000 inhabitantsOver 3 000 inhabitants < 3 000 inhabitants Cities and municipalities of Kymenlaakso. Sub-regions[edit] Kotka-Hamina sub-region Kotka Hamina (Fredrikshamn) Pyhtää (Pyttis) Virolahti (Vederlax) Miehikkälä Kouvola sub-region Kouvola Municipalities listed[edit] Läskisoosi Coat ofarms Municipality Population Land area(km2) Density(/km2) Finnishspeakers Swedishspeakers Otherspeakers Hamina 19,113 610 31 91 % 0.3 % 9 % Kotka 50,029 272 184 87 % 0.9 % 12 % Kouvola 77,625 2,558 30 93 % 0.4 % 6 % Miehikkälä 1,664 423 4 93 % 0 % 7 % Pyhtää 5,016 325 15 88 % 6.5 % 5 % Virolahti 2,751 372 7 93 % 0.4 % 7 % Total 156,198 4,559 34.3 91 % 0.7 % 8 % Former municipalities[edit] Municipalities of Kymenlaakso in 1965 Haapasaari (to Kotka in 1974) Anjala (formed Anjalankoski with Sippola in 1975) Sippola (formed Anjalankoski with Anjala in 1975) Karhula (to Kotka in 1977) Kymi (to Kotka in 1977) Vehkalahti (to Hamina in 2003) Anjalankoski (to Kouvola in 2009) Elimäki (to Kouvola in 2009) Jaala (to Kouvola in 2009) Kuusankoski (to Kouvola in 2009) Valkeala (to Kouvola in 2009) Iitti was transferred to Päijät-Häme Region in 2021
[edit] Population size 1990–2025 Year Population 1990 186,030 1995 184,595 2000 179,940 2005 177,931 2010 175,377 2015 171,778 2020 162,812 2025 156,198
[edit] For parliamentary elections, Kymenlaakso, together with the regions of South Karelia and South Savo, is part of the Southeast Finland constituency. The constituency elects 15 of the 200 members of the Parliament of Finland.